Vacancies jump by 14% in 12 months but advertised salaries slump by £2,181 in real terms

27th February 2014

There were 768,104 advertised UK vacancies in January, a 3.1% monthly increase on December and a 14% rise on the year according to the UK Job Market report from advertising search website Adzuna.co.uk.

The booming manufacturing sector is powering UK job growth says the firm with the number of advertised vacancies in the sector tripling in the past year. Advertised salaries slipped in January, with an average year-on-year drop of £2,181 in real terms.

The growth in vacancies has been boosted by a dramatic increase in manufacturing and engineering sector jobs, helped by a particularly strong recovery in Britain’s car industry and a growing trend for re-shoring production back to the UK. Vacancies in the manufacturing sector, for example, have tripled over the past year.

Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “Manufacturing will play a key role in the rejuvenation of the British economy. It will help to increase the productivity of the country’s labour force, and help us catch up with our overseas competitors. The Bank of England has cited that greater economic productivity is needed to validate wage expectations, and manufacturing is one of the key vehicles to drive this forward.”

Growth in the UK’s car industry has helped to drive the number of advertised vacancies in the manufacturing sector to 10,012 in January 2014 – triple the number advertised in January 2013.

However a prominent North-South divide still persists in the job market, despite an increase in vacancies.

Nine of the top ten cities to find a job in January were in the South, while seven of the worst ten cities to find a job were in the North. Cambridge – one of the nation’s high-tech hubs – was the best city to find a job in January (with four vacancies to every jobhunter) whilst Wirral was the worst (with 27.38 jobseekers per vacancy).

Competition for vacancies has actually intensified in some Northern cities. In Salford and Rochdale, competition for jobs rose by over 18% month-on-month.

Hunter adds: “It’s vital that government initiatives attempt to bridge the gaping North-South split in the jobs market. Encouraging manufacturing will have a positive effect on the whole economy, but it could further separate North from South. The North is home to British car manufacturing, and a collection of Jaguar Land Rover production plants are based in the Midlands.

“But our high-tech manufacturing plants are clustered in the South, with Cambridge and Guildford two key epicentres. It is this type of highly skilled manufacturing which we are re-shoring back to Britain. Once again, it will be the South that benefits the most.”